With all the publicity surrounding the botched rollout of a federal website connected with the Affordable Care Act, Rodney and Linda Pate were surprised that the law will help them get what they consider to be a good deal on health insurance.

“I’m tickled. I’m very happy with it,” said Rodney Pate, 55, a self-employed truck driver who lives in Springfield with his wife, an unemployed former legal clerk.

Springfield Realtor Kyle Killebrew, on the other hand, is facing a 21 percent increase in the cost of health insurance in 2014 and potentially a 200 percent increase in 2015 if he keeps the same Health Alliance policy.

Health Alliance has attributed the larger increase to the ACA.

“It makes it awfully tough to be somebody who doesn’t depend on the government,” said Killebrew, 33, whose insurance plan covers him, his wife and their two children, as well as Killebrew’s three employees.

“The way it was working before was fine for me,” he said.

Killebrew said he and his wife, a speech therapist, earn too much money for their family to qualify for the ACA’s subsidies to reduce the cost of insurance through Get Covered Illinois, the state’s new health-insurance exchange. Subsidies can be available to people earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or up to $94,200 annually for a family of four.

Rodney Pate, who takes medicine for high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and Linda, 59, who has asthma, used to be covered through Linda’s former employer’s insurance plan. The couple’s premium was $250 per month, with a total annual deductible of $5,000. That coverage ended when Linda was laid off seven months ago.

Rodney went uninsured for about five months before finding a private policy, one offering extremely limited coverage just for him, for $215 per month, with a $2,500 deductible.

Because of Linda’s asthma, Rodney wasn’t able to find an insurer willing to cover his wife but hoped the ACA eventually would help them both. Linda remains uninsured.

With free assistance from Brandy Lee, an ACA “navigator” at Springfield’s Family Guidance Centers, the Pates were able to complete enrollment a week ago for coverage to begin Jan. 1. It took three visits to the not-for-profit agency because of problems with the federal HealthCare.gov website.

The couple’s Coventry Health policy will carry a $130 monthly premium and even includes dental coverage for Linda; Rodney already has a separate dental policy he will continue into 2014.

The Coventry policy will allow the Pates to keep seeing their Springfield Clinic doctor and use Springfield hospitals. The policy’s premium would have been $938 a month without the federal subsidy that reduced the couple’s cost to $130.

Rodney earns about $20,000 a year as a truck driver. The couple’s combined income in 2012 was $34,000, but that was before Linda was laid off. Her unemployment compensation is about to run out.

Page 2 of 2 - Because the couple’s income is less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level, they also qualify for federal subsidies to reduce each of their individual annual deductibles of $3,750 in the Coventry policy, though they don’t know the reduced deductible amount yet.

Rodney said he has cut back on necessary doctor visits since coverage through his wife’s employer ended. He doesn’t mind that the taxes and fees funding the ACA will help him and his wife afford comprehensive insurance.

“I’ve worked hard all my life,” he said, adding that he voted for Democrat Barack Obama for president both times but has supported Republicans and Democrats in the past. The ACA, enacted in 2010, is considered Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

“The wealthy get the biggest tax breaks,” Rodney said. “I believe in the sharing of wealth.”